Catch Me if You Can
by I-Have-A-Dark-Side
Summary: The thief had struck again and Arthur was hell bent on catching him... what he did not know was that the thief was the girl he had been in love with ever since he could remember. "...you have so much more than you need and there are so many with so much less than they deserve..." she whispered to the sleeping Arthur... One-shot.


_**Summary: **__The thief had struck again and Arthur was hell bent on catching him... what he did not know was that the thief was the girl he had been in love with ever since he could remember. _

_**AN: **__So at the moment this is a one shot depending on the response. The idea came to me and I couldn't get it out of my head. So here it is, I hope you enjoy..._

_**Disclaimer: **__All places, people, names etc. belong to their respective owners. _

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**Catch Me if You Can!**

Her hood was raised and a black mask covered a good proportion of her face, it left only her red rose lips visible. She wore simple men's clothing with her chest bound flat; to any who looked upon her she would appear to be a man but for the most part she would go unseen, well, that was the plan at least.

She stuck to the shadows supplied by the high walls of Camelot's Castle, slinking like a cat along the streets and alley ways. She was a hunter, a woman on a mission.

The empty sack lay flat against her back but soon it would filled with vital supplies; food, money and medicine. A smile stretched her lips at the prospect of so many goods.

She was nearing the castle itself, where the spoils awaited her, when she ran into her first guard. She pressed herself flat against the wall letting the shadows hide her as she looked for a way around the man but she found none and so instead retrieved a coin from her pocket and let it roll along the dusty ground.

As she intended the guard noticed and stepped forwards, leaving his post to investigate. She almost laughed when she emerged from the shadows as silent as the night; the guards back was to her as he bent down to retrieve the coin. _The greed of men _she thought as she knocked the man unconscious with a blow to the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. The man fell to the ground and with all her strength she dragged him to the shadows where she had been dwelling.

Prising the coin from his hand she carried on.

She encountered three more guards before she made it into the castle itself. There it was more difficult to stick to the shadows but she knew the castle well enough to go unnoticed. Her first point of call was the physician's chambers, it was stealing medicine that she found herself feeling guilty about, knowing that maybe someone would fall ill and she would have taken the only cure but she would always brush the thought aside. The physician would only have to ask the king and more supplies would be given.

It wasn't her first time visiting the physician's chambers and so she knew every floor board that creaked and avoided them as she made her way over to the cabinets stacked with small bottles, herbs and potions. She took some she knew were needed and some that she was sure could be useful all the while listening to the old man's soft breathing. His name; Gaius.

She crept slowly from the room once she was done and made her way to a different part of the castle. The next part was almost the most dangerous. She crept silently along the corridors making her way towards the more secure part of the castle; where Arthur resided. She knew a chest of gold coins lay beneath his bed, which was her next stop.

Of course a guard spotted her, a lone guard which she couldn't have hoped for.

"Stop, what is your business here," the guard could not fully see her, she knew. She was in the shadows and so with the sly smile she had perfected by accident over the years she slowly stepped into the light.

She spoke in a voice deep enough to pass as a man's. "I'm here to steal from your King and Prince."

With that she attacked, with a speed the guard had not expected and before he could make a noise she had her hand over his mouth and delivered a sharp hard hit to the back of his neck. She lowered the guard to the floor before dragging him so he rested in the shadows, his back leaning against a pillar.

"Sorry," she whispered before moving on for she knew she had limited time before suspicions were raised.

She made it to Arthur's chambers and peaked around the corner of the wall to see two guards, as expected, standing at their posts outside the royal prince's chambers. She moved back around the corner and once again reached into her pocket to retrieve the coin. She released it, rolling it down the corridor she was standing on. Her plan? The two guards would leave their posts and walk towards the corner she was hiding behind.

It didn't quite go so easily.

One guard appeared and with her cat like reflexes she attacked. He put up no fight and he was on the ground in seconds, unconscious and sure to have a headache when he woke, her problem however was the second guard.

"You," he called sharply drawing his sword.

_Crap _she exclaimed silently before drawing her own sword.

Not once on one of these missions had she killed a man. That was not her intentions and she was not about to start but the noise the man was making and the sound of their swords which were about to clash would alert to much unwanted attention.

She had to think fast and so she formulated a half baked plan at best. She lowered her sword and let the guard press his to her throat. The cold steel of his blade burned her skin and she tried not to flinch.

"You're him," the guard said, his voice filled with awe and pride. His pride stemming from seemingly capturing her: the thief who had evaded the full force of Camelot's guards, no doubt.

She spoke again, using the same low voice that could be mistaken for a man's. "Yes, well done. You've finally caught me."

She tried to keep the smirk from her lips as the guard, obviously fairly knew and young, lowered his sword as he laughed in triumph. It was then, while he was distracted, that she made her move. She knocked the sword out of his hand with a sharp high kick, catching the handle of the blade so it did not clatter to the floor before, copying his earlier action and holding the blade to his throat.

She didn't hide the smirk this time, "a little advice. Never let your guard down."

His eyes were wide but he stayed silent. Anger flickered in his eyes before it was replaced with fear as she lifted her own sword into the air and once again knocked another guard unconscious.

She sighed and wiped away a trickle of sweat from her brow. She found it a little unnerving how easy she found it as time passed. She remembered the first time she broke into Camelot's castle, she was a ball of nerves and she had nearly got caught several times. _Practise makes perfect _she told herself as she stepped over the guard's body.

As silently as possible she opened the doors to Arthur's chambers before closing them just as silently behind herself. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness but when shapes began to appear she moved forwards, side stepped the table and the pair of boots that lay haphazardly in the middle of the floor.

She shook her head at the sight of the sleeping prince. He was handsome, she wasn't blind to that but that did not stop her from reaching under his bed and reaching for the chest filled with coins.

She stilled as the prince sighed softly, turning onto his side so his face was only merely a hairs width away from hers. She could feel his breath wash over her cheeks, the smell of mead and stew assaulted her senses. She knew she should take the money and leave but she found herself setting down the chest and instead pushing back a strand of golden hair that had fallen over his face.

"I am sorry," she whispered, in her own soft feminine voice. "But you have so much more than you need and there are so many with so much less than they deserve."

Arthur sighed softly as she caressed his cheek softly.

"I am sure when you are king you will give everything you can to those people in need but for now I must do what is necessary." With that she scooped up several hand full's of coins before pushing the chest back under the princes bed.

She stood, swinging the sack now half filled with goods onto her back, as quietly as she could.

"Goodnight Arthur Pendragon," and then she was gone; leaving through a different, smaller door, that was on the other side of his room.

She hastily made her way towards the food store, carefully avoiding as many guards as she could. The alarm had not been raised yet but she knew it was only a matter of time before someone realised the thief was back.

She made quick work of filling the rest of the sack up. She took breads, meats and fruits and even several different herbs before she deemed the amount of things she had stolen acceptable.

She moved with more hast as she left the castle, she stuck to the shadows of the courtyard and then all but ran through the streets of Camelot, diving for cover each time she heard the signs of a group of guards heading towards her.

She didn't let herself breathe a sigh of relief until she mounted her horse and was far away from Camelot but she wasn't too far away that she didn't hear the warning bell sound in the distance.

She smiled slowly. Once again she done it... she knew, one day, she would be caught but it would not be that night.

_Catch Me if You Can_

She disrupted the spoils between the lesser villages within Camelot's borders. She left parcels of food, pouches of coins enough to feed a small family for a month and medicine to those she knew who needed it.

For instance she left Glen's family more medicine than some. She knew his son had been injured badly in a hunting accident, the potion she had left would help get rid of the infection she knew he had caught. Outside Martha's door she left more food than she had to others, the woman had six mouths to feed and no husband to go out hunting unlike some families and on Thomas's door she had left more coins than food because he needed coins to buy supplies for his stall which in turn he sold for food and other goods.

It was still dark when she returned home but the sun would begin to rise soon. She slipped into her bedroom unnoticed and proud of what she had accomplished she fell asleep exhausted.

_Catch Me if You Can_

"Robin," her name was called over several heavy knocks on her door.

Lazily she opened her eyes before groaning. She did not want to be disturbed; she had barely had three hours sleep.

"Miss Robin," she recognised Sophie's voice; her maid. "The Prince is here m'lady."

That woke Robin with a start. She bolted up right, the thought of sleeping gone.

"Would you like help getting ready m'lady?"

She looked down at herself. She had not bothered to undress; the only thing she had taken off was the mask. Sophie could not see her in such attire, no one could.

"NO," Robin called, loudly and too suddenly. Calming herself she spoke again, "no thank you Sophie, I will dress myself today."

She listened to Sophie's footsteps retreat before she jumped from her bed and began to peel off the breeches and shirt. She stuffed them under her bed along with the mask and the sack which she used to carry her spoils. Robin would hide them better later but she had no time and so hurriedly she slipped on one of her finest dresses, combed her hair before deeming herself ready.

Her house was no castle but it was bigger than most. Being the daughter of a Lord wasn't a bad life, in fact it gave Robin the advantage she had on helping those less fortunate than herself. The town of which her father was Lord over was in the borders of Camelot; King Uther had declared her father Lord and given him a few dozen men to control the town when her father had helped Uther in the great purge.

That was all before Robin's time and so she only knew the life of a Lord's daughter but that did not make her ignorant to the lives of those less fortunate than herself and so when she was old enough to help them, old enough to understand that she could help them, she helped!

"Robin," her father greeted her at the bottom of the stairs. "Morning my child," he embraced her warmly before stepping aside to reveal Arthur and his man servant.

Robin smiled warmly, pushing the guilt aside. "Arthur, what do we owe the pleasure?"

Arthur took her hand and kissed it lightly. She always caught butterflies when he did that, it was his action and the way he looked at her that made her stomach flutter. When her father was not around though and she and Arthur were alone they did not matter themselves with those formalities. They were friends and it was rumoured they would one day be more. Robin knew of her father's desire as well as Uther's to have the two marry and if she was honest, Robin didn't much mind the idea.

"Business I am afraid," he began. "The thief came again last night, stole more than he often does."

Robin played her part well, acting shocked and disgusted. Her father however was not acting and offered as many of his own man to help catch the thief.

"That is most kind of you Henry, I shall accept that offer," Arthur said.

Henry shook the prince's hand. "Come, you must be hungry. Shall we eat?"

And so Robin followed her father and Arthur to the feasting hall. It was smaller than the one at Camelot castle yet it was plenty large enough for them.

"So, tell me Arthur, do you have plan to catch this man?" her father asked.

Arthur smiled, "Yes, in fact I do."

And so Robin listened, trying to keep the smile off her lips as she memorised ever detail Arthur uttered.

The thief would not fall for the trap...

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_**AN: **__Surprisingly I had so much fun writing this! So, what do you think? Like I said at the beginning, this is a one-shot for now, depending on the response, so let me know what you think? Do you want it to continue? _


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